Water issue sparks fire in NMC general body meet

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation has warned the head of the water works department to submit action taken report on water supply system within a week or face suspension.
The decision came following submission of an adjournment motion in the NMC general body meeting over water crisis by senior Congress corporator Praful Gudadhe and BJP corporator Dharmpal Meshram.
The general body meeting on Thursday began after a delay of 70 minutes and witnessed noisy scenes. Independents and BSP corporators staged a walkout over mayor Nanda Jichkar’s refusal to allow discussions on the issues raised by them. A war of words also erupted between the ruling and opposition members over not allowing corporators to seek information over the issues raised by them.
The city had witnessed low rainfall last year. With a view to streamline water supply across the city this summer, the general body had instructed the administration to prepare an action taken report regarding the measures it would take to ensure proper supply during summer.
During the period, Gudadhe had alleged unequal distribution of water in the city. “Many areas were getting around the clock water, while numerous localities were deprived of even a bucket of potable water,” Gudadhe had claimed.
However, even after six months of being instructed to table ATR, the administration had no report to table before the House despite the opposition parties repeatedly raising the issue and reminding the ruling party in the last general body meetings held in January and February.
Gudadhe also alleged that the NMC supplied almost 740mld per day before the Lok Sabha elections, which has now come down significantly. The administration failed to give a satisfactory reply to Gudadhe’s query. WWD executive engineer Shweta Banerjee admitted that now the NMC is supplying 670mld to 680mld daily.
Independent corporator Abha Pande tore up the agenda of NMC general body to protest mayor Nanda Jichkar’s decision not to allow discussion on water scarcity in the city that was on the agenda raised by her. She charged Jichkar with dictatorial attitude in conducting the House. Pande will now stage ‘Jal Tyag Andolan’ along with her supporters at 11.30am on Friday.
Congress corporator Harish Gwalbanshi raised water works department’s lackadaisical approach to de-silt Gorewada lake. He also alleged that though the NMC hired two excavators for de-silting the lake, the work was yet to start. The civic body should take the advantage of dry bed of the lake as it would help the NMC to ensure better water storage in the coming years, he pointed out.
BSP corporator Jitendra Ghodeswar raised the issue of many localities in North Nagpur were receiving contaminated tap water.
Senior Congress corporator Manoj Sangole suggested the NMC should use well water for fire tenders and de-choking machines.
Leader of opposition Tanaji Wanve sought the mayor to direct the administration to lodge police complaints against Orange City Water for ignoring leakages in pipelines and failing to resolve water contamination issues.
The general body directed the civic administration to check whether the civic body has power to take action against RO plants selling water in cans after Wanve raised the issue of illegal operation of the plants in the city. According to him, there are over 100s RO plants, while zones of the civic body had issued only 21 no-objection certificates. Most of the RO plants were selling contaminated water, he claimed.